TREASURES OF DARKNESS (Cont.)

Timing is everything with God. David knew a lot about timing. He didn’t like to wait and he and he didn’t like to suffer. I don’t know many people who do, do you?

I am a wimp and I do not do pain. David often pressed God to hurry with his answers…not to leave him in a painful place. He was urgent with his pleas. We can be, too. Psalm 102 : 2b says “in the day when I call answer me SPEEDILY”.

When the way is dark and the times are desperate, we need an immediate response. We need to KNOW right then and right there that God is with us, that He has not forsaken us, that He hears us. In those dark days when I pressed into Christ like never before, David once again voiced my heart’s cry to the Lord,

“Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate….Hear me SPEEDILY, O Lord! My spirit faileth; hide not thy face from me, lest I be like those that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning for in thee do I trust; cause me to KNOW the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art MY God, thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of the righteous. Quicken me, Lord, for thy name’s sake, for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am thy servant”. Ps 143: 4, 7-12.

It is so amazing to me that my friend, David, knew EXACTLY how I felt!! I was certainly overwhelmed and my heart had never felt so desolate. The fear and anxiety was so great that I could not express it to ANYONE but God, but….that was enough. My spirit was failing and I certainly felt like I was in a pit. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get out or not. Pits are so dark and I needed to see the light of His face. I needed Him to light my candle so I would not be so afraid while I waited in that pit. I needed IMMEDIATE help. So I did run to him every morning.

Bible study and prayer take discipline. I am not the most disciplined person in the world, but I have tried to be consistent in Bible study and quiet time throughout my life. Sometimes I’ve succeeded better than others. Now I talk to the Lord all day long, but that “quiet time” where I really get STILL before Him and give HIM time to talk to me…now that I struggle with sometimes. But during this “pit time”, I literally couldn’t wait to get to that quiet time in the morning. His word was like my lifeline. Never had it spoken to me like it did during those dark days. Never had I needed it more in my whole life. And I made a remarkable discovery. It FED me. It SUSTAINED me. It ENCOURAGED me. It STRENGTHENED me. It KEPT ME GOING. It was alive!! John 1:1 says “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the WORD WAS GOD!!!!!!” God FED me. God SUSTAINED me. God ENCOURAGED me. God STRENGTHENED me. God KEPT ME GOING!!!!!! He caused me to hear his lovingkindness every morning and because of that I was able to trust Him for that day. Night would come and the darkness would close in on me, but then the light of day would break and I could run to Him again and once more, I could trust.

Bob Sorge put it this way in his book, “Secrets of the Secret Place”,

“..I never discovered the highest joys of the secret place until the Lord took me on an unplanned journey. He allowed a calamity to hit my life that traumatized me. My life careened out of control, and my very survival (spiritually) was at stake. Frantically, I began to claw and push my way into God’s heart, scouring the Bible cover to cover to understand His ways. It felt like I was fighting for air like a drowning man. To put it simply, I had been made desperate. It was in this desperate pursuit of God that the secret place began to blossom for me like a desert flower. What made the difference in my own journey? One word…desperation!……When you are made desperate for God , your pursuit of God takes on a different quality. When it’s personal survival that’s at stake, you begin to look at Jesus in a different way.”

My “enemies” were not only the troubles that were upon me, but the fiery darts of fear and anxiety that Satan would shoot at me every day. Enemies don’t have to come at you with blazing guns. They sneak up on you and pierce your soul when you least expect it. Satan has a whole arsenal of fiery darts that he loves to use against us. God has given us an armor to protect us (Ephesians 6), but we must also realize that God is our Defender, our Shield and our strong high tower. We can run to him and he will protect us from the enemy. But we must RUN TO Him and not try to fight the battle alone and in our own strength. We are powerless on our own against this foe. But the Lord is able to fight FOR us and He will if we run to Him.

If you find yourself in a pit that is black as night, if the arrows of the enemy are whizzing past your head or maybe even a few have found their target, RUN to the Lord. Climb up into his lap and allow him to protect you. Run to him every morning and listen for his voice of lovingkindness. He will light the way for you. He will defend you against your enemies, no matter how strong or how numerous they are. He will provide a way out of that pit for you, just press into Him and trust His way. HE IS YOUR GOD!!!!!!!!!